July 29 - August 4: Arthur Stace aka 'Mr Eternity' passes away but leaves behind one last mystery - Jimmy Hoffa goes missing from a car park next to a Michigan restaurant and is never seen again - Andrew and Abby Borden are found dead, both repeatedly struck with a hatchet like object.

July 30, 1967

Arthur Malcom Stace

Arthur Malcolm Stace dies of a stroke in a nursing home in Sydney, Australia. He was 83 years old. Stace was also known as Mr Eternity for the fact that he had written the word “Eternity” an estimated 500,000 times on Sydney footpaths, train stations and anywhere else he thought he could get the word seen by as many people as possible. Over a period of 35 years, Stace would rise early from bed, leave his home, and walk the streets in order to scribe his one worded message. Unfortunately the Sydney City Council did not approve of this defacing of footpaths and other public areas, so set the police on his trail. However, no one knew who was responsible for the freshly written words in chalk showing up around the city. He became a kind of legend. It was a reverend of the church Stace worked at who solved the mystery of “Eternity” when he saw Stace bend down, pull some chalk out of his pocket and write the word in perfect, beautiful, copperplate script – quite the feat since he was almost illiterate and could barely write his own name. The Reverend Thompson wrote about Stace's life which revealed why Stace had written the word so many times, over and over. Stace had been born into poverty, living out of bins in Western Sydney. He became a ward of the state, an alcoholic and was sent to jail at age 15. When discharged, he worked in rather seedy locations, gambling dens and brothels before enlisting in the army for World War 1. While abroad he became quite sick and was discharged from service, after which he resumed drinking and petty crime. Living on the streets, broke and without food, he went to a church for a free feed, and that is where his life changed. He listened in on a sermon which inspired him to better his life, a short time later he heard the preaching of Evangelist John G. Ridley reading “On the Echoes of Eternity”. Stace wanted to help spread the message, and soon started chalking the word on Sydney streets. At times Stace tried writing other words, but Eternity always won over, and soon he stopped fighting it. The last known 'Eternity' that is left written in Stace's own hand is a mystery in its own right. It is located inside the bell of the General Post Office clock tower. The tower was being rebuilt sometime after Stace's death (it had been dismantled during World War 2) and when the bell was brought out of storage, the script was found within. No one knows how it got there...

July 31, 1975

Jimmy Hoffa

On this date, Jimmy Hoffa is last seen alive in a car park outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Detroit, Michigan. Before departing on his fateful journey, he told several people he was to meet with two Mafia leaders, and as such the disappearances were immediately blamed on the mob. Jimmy Hoffa was closely involved with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (a labor union) rising from being a rally organiser all the way through to its presidency. However, in his early years, he became involved in organised crime and in 1964 was imprisoned for Jury Tampering, bribery and fraud. He only served about half of his prison time before he was given a pardon by Richard Nixon. The night of his disappearance, after he failed to return home, he was reported missing and the search began. The investigation continued for several years before Hoffa was declared legally dead in 1982. The two Mafia leaders he was to meet were essentially cleared of being tied to the disappearance as they had alibis. Hoffa's fate was and still is undetermined, but there have been many theories put forward as to where he is, the most popular being that he is buried beneath a football field at the Meadowlands complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

August 4, 1892

Lizzie Borden

Bridget Sullivan, the Borden family's maid, hears Lizzie Borden (the Borden's younger, 32 years old, daughter) shouting that “Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him." Andrew Borden, Lizzie's father, was slumped on his side, covered in blood, on the sitting room couch. Abby Borden, Lizzie's step mother, was found in a guest bedroom, her skull pretty much caved in. The two Borden's had been repeatedly smashed with a hatchet like weapon, one of which was found by police in the basement missing most of its handle. Suspicion soon fell to Lizzie, as asides from the housekeeper, she was the only one home at the Borden's Fall River, Massachusetts, home. Lizzie went on trial for the crimes which attracted attention from around the nation. Although there was some evidence that pointed possibly towards Lizzie's guilt (she burned one of her dresses soon after the crime, had sought to purchase acid the day before the murders and had been fighting with her parents the month before) she was quickly acquitted after it was decided that she could never commit such a crime. No one was ever found guilty of the murders, but speculation is still rife, even today, so long after the murders. Definitely one to have a good read about if you have the time.

Ashley Hall 2013

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